Looking at buying Yamaha 115 and boat

[DawsonRH]

Motor has been sitting for about seven months. Owner did not put correct stabilizer in gas and had to have carbs rebuilt. Owner is completely open about all questions I asked. Said I am welcome to test drive and welcome to take to authorized mechanic to check out. Is there anything I should have looked at in particular or that I need to know going in.

I know It needs a new impeller since it sat for so long, and I will be running sea foam in all of my gas. What should I expect to pay to have this looked at by a mechanic?

 

[scjmc]

Re: Looking at buying Yamaha 115 and boat

Have the compression checked. I would also ask the owner if he had been running ethanol gas. I had a Key West with a 1998 115 Yamaha and the engine was fantastic. I always did routine maintenance (lower unit/impeller/thermostats/lube/decarb/plugs/filters). The only problem I ever had in my many (500+ in 2 years after the motor was already 6 years old)hours of use was the remote oil tank transfer pump.

 

[DawsonRH]

Re: Looking at buying Yamaha 115 and boat

Yes the owner had run ethonol gas, that is why the carbs had to be rebuilt. He used red stabil instead of the right one. Said he had compression checked when he had this done and it was 120 120 118 118. I still plan to have that checked if I decide to drive down to look at it. This boat is about 300 miles away, so any tips on how to set all this up would be appreciated. Obviously, I only want to make one trip and have the money with me when I go. If this motor has remote oil on it I will be pulling that off of it and mixing my own gas because I have heard horror stories about what happens if that part goes bad on you.

 

[scjmc]

Re: Looking at buying Yamaha 115 and boat

You can premix if you want, but the engine alarms and power down feature worked properly. I had a quart of extra oil and refilled the engine mounted tank and all was well. Compression sounds good, but you should run the check after decarbing. Honestly it probably is not necessary because the numbers are very close together (less than 2% differance per cylinder). Just see if it runs good, makes full RMS etc. If you get a qualified mechanic to look it over he should know what to look for.

 

[Doh]

Re: Looking at buying Yamaha 115 and boat

I have run a 130 hp V4 since 1998. 500-600 miles per year, mostly boat is fully loaded. 10% ethenol as of late.

Changed the plugs once
Cleaned the Red Sealant out of the carbs once
Changed the lower unit oil once
Changed the oil lift pump once

Pretty much trouble free, one hint is don't over prop it, they like to rev more than they like to lug.

 

[robert graham]

Re: Looking at buying Yamaha 115 and boat

I'd want to know if motor was run in mostly salt or fresh water. If it's a saltwater motor, check it out carefully. Take the boat/motor to the lake/river and run it up and down for a couple of hours, turn it off, restart it, run wide open a while, then you'll have a pretty good idea of what you're buying. Install fuel/water seperator, use Stabil Marine and Ringfree all the time, learn how to drain carbs a couple of times a year, with good luck, you'll have a fine motor.